Five Senses, Baby
copyright 2014 by Tim Griffin

When the air starts vibrating in your ear
It gets to beating on your eardrum so you can hear
The hammer and the anvil and the stirrup swing
And when they bounce on your cochlea you’ll hear me sing about
Five senses baby, I got five senses baby
I got my ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and skin to tell me what’s going on

When the light shines in through the pupils in my eyes
Depending on the brightness they adjust their size
The rods and cones get the light from the lens
So I can look around and see my friends with
Five senses baby, I got five senses baby
I got my ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and skin to tell me what’s going on

When I put a bite of food into my mouth
I got taste buds to tell me what it’s all about
Sour, bitter, salty, umami, or sweet
My taste buds will tell me what’s good to eat, I got
Five senses baby, I got five senses baby
I got my ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and skin to tell me what’s going on

And when the air carries molecules into my nose
I can tell by the smell if it’s a skunk or rose
I got an olfactory epithelium
So I can tell if a smell is yucky or yummy
Five senses baby, I got five senses baby
I got my ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and skin to tell me what’s going on

Now most of my body covered with skin
It keeps the outside out and my insides in
Pain and temperature, pressure and such
I got a somatosensory sense of touch, I got
Five senses baby, I got five senses baby
I got my ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and skin to tell me what’s going on

I got eyes, ears, nose, and skin and tongue
But I got to make sense of every sense I sung
My nerves are connected to each domain
So they can carry all the messages to my brain about
Five senses baby, I got five senses baby
I got my ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and skin to tell me what’s going on

Notes

The senses are one of those odd things in science instruction that comes up in various grades, seemingly at random intervals. First grade, then fourth grade, then middle school? I figured I’d just cram all the basic parts of each sensory system into one song.

Here are some standards from the NGSS and the state of California addressed by this song:

First Grade:

• LS1.A: Structure and Function. All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water and air. Plants also have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive and grow.
• LS1.D: Information Processing. Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival. Animals respond to these inputs with behaviors that help them survive. Plants also respond to some external inputs.

Fourth Grade:

• 4-PS4-2. Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.
• 4-PS4-3. Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.
• PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation. An object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eyes.
• 4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.

Middle School:

• MS-LS1-8. Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
• CA.LS.7.5.g. Students know how to relate the structures of the eye and ear to their functions.

Chords:
F, A#, C.... basic 12-bar blues progression. Change the key if you like.

(Note that I play it with a capo up 1 fret, so I play it as if it were just E, A, B but up one half step)